Plants and landmarks found on our hike.
Day 1 -
by Addie L.
Sept. 30, 2015
The day we headed off to Cardigan Mountain started with rain. Lots and lots of it. It poured down in sheets and covered the roads with a sheen of water. When I arrived at the Middle-High School at 8:00 am, I ferried my bags inside to the room where the German and Spanish students were waiting. After a few more students arrived, Mr. Woolner took attendance, and the bags were brought outside to the bus. We loaded them in though the back door, and then got on the bus ourselves. The ride, dreary and so dark that eventually the lights were turned on. After an hour and 15 minutes, we arrived at the Cardigan Lodge. Hope, an instructor working at the lodge, met us there. She explained where we were going to put our gear, and soon everything was packed into the gear room. Then we took off our shoes and went upstairs, where we met Tabitha. Hope and Tabitha in turn introduced a few games to us, and then they called groups up to move into their dorms. My group was second; Bea, Emily, Mia, Meg and I. Once we had thrown our bags onto the bunks we went back downstairs, and waited until everyone was situated. Tabitha and Hope were joined by Bekah and Robin, and we learned a few facts about them, and our groups. My instructor was Robin - and after another game, my group was named the Shmoovers. We also talked about how humans affect the places they live, such as how pollution affects waterways (an example of Human/Environment Interaction, a theme of Geography).Then we went and changed into non-cotton clothing (Human/Environment Interaction), and when on a short nature hike. We saw all different kinds of plants, including the hobble bush and the snow berry, which was marker so no one would step on it, and it was growing very close to the trail (Human/Environment Interaction). The stream was also extremely full, and our walk was accompanied with the pitter-patter of raindrops and the roaring to the rocks on water. We crossed several bridges and small foot-planks spanning the water and puddles, (Human/Environment Interaction). We also used our GPS units to find an old car hidden in the woods once used to make a tiny ski hill out of a roll (Human/Environment Interaction). When the hike was over, it was nearly time for dinner, so the instructors talked to us about ORT, or Overall Remaining Total (or something along those lines. ORT has to do with how much food is left on our plates. The staff will take all the food left and weigh it. Dinner, lasagna, was delicious, and we had about a pound and a half of ORT, for 40 people. It was good, but we wanted to be better. We set our next goal for .9 pounds. After dinner was a night-time game about how nocturnal animals move around in the dark. When we finished, we went back inside, where Mr. Woolner read us a story about Blackbeard. At last, the night ended as a table was (memorably and accidentally by Mr. Woolner) destroyed and lights turned out.
